Most distant observed supernova

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A team of Astronomers led by Jeff Cooke have found a Type IIn Supernova in a distant galaxy some 11 billion light years from Earth. Using data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), the astronomers noticed a galaxy that brightened momentarily with a spectrum characterised by very narrow colour band of emitted light from Hydrogen as it burns. The results from the analysis of the data were announced in July 2009, and had emerged from painstaking work to assess data collected previously by the CFHT. The unique spectral characteristics of the Type IIn supernova spectrum distinguishes these objects from Quasar or Active Galactic Nuclei. In turn these objects could offer a further measure of the distance from Earth to help scientists measure the true size of the Universe.

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